== Profiles and home configuration '''Q:''' I heard that there are different ways to declare or install software packages into the environment. What are the use cases, the pros and cons? '''A:''' You can manage and use packages in three different ways: * System wide (at OS configuration) * Manually in the users [[default profile]] * In your [[home configuration]] (portable across computers) * Use temporary environments (via guix shell python python-pandas bash --) '''WARNING''' Only packages installed in the same way play well together by default. If you install the same package in different ways it will shadow all but one. '''Explanation:''' You declared the vim editor package a system level package, so that it is available for everyone. But a user installed it in his default profile as well. The system vim is then shadowed. If - for some reason - the user additionally declares vim in his home configuration, it will shadow the others as well. If you install extension packages like vim-nerdtree in the system profile it might not be available for the vim at default user profile or [[home configuration]] profile, because the matching vim is shadowed. [WikiStart Back]